White Knight Goes Green
by HarlequinArtist
Summary: Xander looses a bet and has to dress up in a very interesting costume. This leads to interesting changes in the White Knight. (No set pairing...yet!)
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

A.N.- I don't own either Batman, nor Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I'm just playing with the characters. This fic was inspired by Hellsinglover's "Poisoned Xander" Challenge. No set pairing yet. Enjoy.

**Chapter 1**

Xander scowled at his red haired best friend. Willow just smirked at him and continued walking, trailing a little ways behind Buffy, their other best friend.

"A bet's a bet Xan."

Xander scowled at that, and intensified his glare at the red-head's back. Willow had bet him that he couldn't dust more vamps than her the night before, the penalty was the loser had to do what the winner told them to. Willow had dusted one vamp when Buffy accidently kicked it onto her stake. Xander had gotten zero.  
Willow's task was contained in the plastic shopping bag in his hand. Neither of his two female friends appreciated his comment about spandex, so as punishment Willow had gotten him a costume. A spandex one. Made for a girl.

Xander's scowl transferred from Willow's back, to the bright red wig peeking out of the bag. She had picked his favorite DC Universe villainess, Poison Ivy. He was going to be a laughingstock at school, but he couldn't back out of it. Xander sighed and said his goodbyes to the girls, before heading home to get ready.

Xander cringed for the fifth time as he passed a snickering classmates, he really just wanted to sink into the ground and die. His group of kids, followed like little ducks, grinning and giggling after his little candy speech, ready to go out and get as much candy as they could. Xander led them down the street and took them from house to house.

At the fourth house, the two little demons in his group became scarily real all of the sudden and tried to attack the little fairy, who took off in flight. Xander told the little teddy bear to run and took off, trying to lead the two little demons away. He felt his skin start to prickle and burn and his vision spotted at first, then he totally blacked out.

The two little demons caught up to where Xander had fallen and looked around confused, their prey having vanished. The demons lost interest after sniffing around for a few moments, and left the spot. The grass rippled and vines sprouted out of the ground, twining upwards about five or so feet. The vines tangled around each other and then went outwards, revealing a slender woman with light green skin, bright green eyes, and vivid bright red hair. Remains of the spandex costume fell to the grass and were replaced by ivy leaves that covered the woman's breasts, and lower torso. The ivy spiraled down her thighs and wrapped around her feet to form high-heeled boots and covered her arms in elbow length gloves. Pamela Isley aka. Poison Ivy looked around in slight confusion. The last she remembered , she and Harley had been on a heist together, now she was in suburbia-hell, and Harley was nowhere to be seen. A vine curled up, rubbing against her cheek and she petted.

"It's all right my loves, Momma's just a little confused is all." She cooed at the plant.

The vines slowly retracted and Ivy started walking down the street, looking for any sign to tell her where she was.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

A.N. - As promised, one of two new chapters. Thanks to everyone who reviewed and gave me some really good food for thought on the story. As always, I own neither Batman nor BTVS, I'm just playing without permission.

**Chapter 2**

Ivy glanced around the neighborhood as she walked. Compared to Gotham, this place was cohabitating with Nature rather than choking it out. Ivy was pleased. The plants around her gave off the feeling of being well cared for, but warned her of the active night life in this town. They didn't give any details, but Ivy made sure to stay alert. She was more concerned about figuring out where she was, and how she would get back to Gotham. She smirked as she thought of her latest plot to raze the city to the ground and erase the scar on Mother Earth with her babies.

"Xander!"

Ivy ignored the call, heading towards the nearby stores to see where she was. A short redhead dressed in leather stepped into her path. Ivy raised an eyebrow as the girl stared at her wide-eyed.

"Oh no, Xander..."

"I'm not this Xander you're looking for, honey."

"You are...you see, my friend Xander dressed up like you for Halloween, and everyone changed into their costumes, so you're him...or he's you now." the girl babbled.

Ivy stared at her, thinking that the girl was more insane than Harley. She was definitely _not_ male.

"If everyone's turned into their costumes, then why are you unaffected?"

"I went as a ghost."

To demonstrate, Willow stuck her hand through Ivy's stomach. Ivy looked down and blinked at the wrist that dissapeared into her gut, mildly intrigued.

"Intersting, your male friend dressed up as a female criminal?"

"He lost a bet, I picked the costume. You're his favorite female comic book villian."

Ivy double-taked.

"Comic book?"

Willow nodded. Ivy glared at the girl.

"You're saying that I'm just some character from a comic book that some snot-nosed _man_ fantasizes over?" she snapped, getting annoyed.

Willow's eyes widened again and she shook her head.

"Xander's not like _that_. He just thinks you and Harley are cool, he doesnt have a wierd crush or anything like that."

Ivy rolled her eyes at the obvious crush that the girl had. Really, it was worse than watching Harley wax poetic over that creepy clown.

"So how do I get back to wherever it is I came from?"

"It's gotta be a spell, so I bet Mr. Giles would know. He's Buffy's Wat-...BUFFY!"

The redhead ran off and Ivy turned towards where she was headed.

"Hey..wait!"

She scowled and jogged to catch up to the ghost who was running towards a brunette in an 18th century dress. She was unwilling to get lost, if this world wasn't her own. She caught up with the ghost.

"Buffy! We have to find Mr. Giles, something strange is going on!"

The brunette turned when the redhead spoke, and looked from her to Ivy and promptly screamed and fainted. Ivy sighed, getting more and more annoyed by the minute. First the simpering little ghost girl and now the mortal embodiment of anti-feminism.

"I think she's having the same probelm as the rest of this town.."

A man with a messed up face came running out of the bushes in a really bad Dracula costume. He snarled, his fingers curled into claws. Ivy glanced at him calmly and within seconds the man was constricted with dozens of vines that slowly started to crush him.

"Stop!"

Ivy looked at the redhead as the ghost put her hands on her hips.

"That might be someone else in a costume! You can't just kill him."

Ivy sighed and rubbed at her temples. The vines tightened around the man, and then hardened into solid wood.

"Happy now?" she said sarcastically.

The girl huffed and glanced down at the unconcious brunette.

"Not until we can get somewhere safe, oh I know, Buffy's house is the closest! Can you help me get her there?"

The redhead turned on the puppy-dog eyes, just like Harley. Ivy sighed and nodded. She was such a sucker for the eyes, and for some reason, something compelled her to aid the little redhead.

"Sure, I'll help you...what was your name?"

"Willow"

"A plant name, I like it."

Willow beamed as Ivy picked up the brunette and led her to the Summers' house.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

A.N.- As promised, two chapters in one night, possibly a third...maybe...lol Normal disclaimer, I own nothing.

**Chapter 3**

Ivy stepped into the suburban home, just as the girl over her shoulder regained conciousness.

"I demand to be let down this instant!"

Ivy dropped her, happily rid of her burden. The princess picked herself up, brushing her skirts off and glaring haughtily at Ivy.

"How dare you! Harlot!"

Willow stepped between the two when Ivy gave the brunette a murderous glance. The princess just turned away with her nose up in the air. A hand smashed through the door prompting a startled squak from Willow. There was a startled yelp and the hand dissapeared and a vine creeped through the hole, splattered with blood.

"Hey! What did I tell you about that?"

Ivy petted the vine, cuddling it to her face and pinned Willow with a stern stare.

"It's them or us, and I'm not too keen on it being us."

There was a scream from outside and Ivy glanced through the hole as Willow stepped through the wall.

"That's Cordelia, you gotta help her!"

Ivy just raised an eyebrow at her and Willow turned the puppy eyes on again. Ivy sighed, rolled her eyes then stepped out the door. She started emitting a dialed down form of her knockout toxin in a pollen form and stepped into the path of the yeti-thing. She blew the pollen into its face. It took a few more steps then keeled over backwards. Ivy grabbed cat-girl by the elbow and dragged her back to the house.

"Hey, who the hell do you think you are?"

Ivy shoved her through the door.

"One cat-girl, delivered relatively unharmed." she stated blandly.

"What is your problem?!"

"Cordelia, you're not a cat, you're a girl, and you're our friend...or well...not."

Cordelia rolled her eyes.

"And you went mental when? What's with the name game?"

"You know who you are?"

Cordelia gave her a 'duh' look.

"Everyone's turned into their costumes. Buffy thinks she's an 18th Century girl and Xander...well..."

Willow gestured to Ivy, who crossed her arms. Cordelia stared wide-eyed.

"Oh my _God_. That's Xander?"

Ivy scowled, and Willow nodded. She glanced warily between Cordy and Ivy for a couple of moments. Willow glanced at Cordelia. They were stuck in Buffy's house, and she needed to get Giles quickly before Ivy got tired of listening to reason.

"Would you mind watching them Cordelia? I need to go get Giles, he'll know how to fix this."

Cordy glared, then nodded resignedly. Willow dissapeared through the wall and Cordelia lasted about fifteen minutes before claiming the need to find a bathroom. Lady Elizabeth watched Ivy warily, while the redhead had to talk herself out of killing the brunette woman. A tall brunette man walked into the living room from the kitchen.

"Oh good, you're all all right. Buffy what is going on out there?"

Ivy and Lady Elizabeth glanced at each other before looking back at the man.

"Who are you?"

The man, oddly enough, reminded Ivy of the Batman. The hunched posture and broody scowl, the man was a shoe in for the caped-crusader. Cordelia happened back down the stairs and her face lit up.

"Angel!"

"What's going on Cordelia?"

"Some wierd spell that's turned everyone into their costumes. Willow's a ghost, Buffy thinks she's a princess and Xander got a mystical sex change for dressing as Poison Ivy."

She said all of this while sending Angel flirtacious glances. Angel glanced at Ivy who raised an eyebrow at him, daring him to comment. She got distracted by movement out of the corner of her eye and turned fully towards the window.

"You may want to make sure the doors and windows are locked, there's a horde of creatures heading this way."

Cordelia dashed upstairs, Angel headed back into the kitchen. Lady Elizabeth followed behind him skittishly. Ivy secured the door and windows with vines when she heard Angel.

"I didn't leave this open..."

She went to the doorway just as another mutated-faced freak burst from the pantry. Angel tackled it to the ground.

"Hand me a stake!"

"A what?" Elizabeth said confusedly.

Ivy thought it was the wrong moment to be wanting dinner, just as confused as the other woman.

"Get. Me. A. Stake!"

Angel looked up and his face was just as deformed as the guy he had pinned to the floor. Elizabeth screamed and went out the back door before Ivy could grab her, not that she wanted to go anywhere near the two wrestling men on the floor.

"Buffy no!"

He twisted the things neck and stood up, his face melting back to normal. Ivy had him restrained in seconds.

"What the hell are you?!" she said glaring.

"I'm a vampire! I help Buffy! I'm one of the good guys!"

"Funny, that's not helping your case any with me. What makes you different from that?" she said, jerking her head towards the body on the floor.

"I have a soul, that doesn't."

Ivy let him down, keeping her distance warily. They both glanced at the door.

"That's not good."

Angel glared at her for stating the obvious.

~End Chapter~


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

A*N*: I own nothing, I'm just exercising my writing skills. Also I apologize for taking so long to update, I've been having job issues and am now settled into the new job, so hopefully everything will settle down. Anyway, on with the story.

**Chapter 3**

Cordelia had to trot to keep up with Angel, Ivy, on the other hand, followed at a leisurely pace.

"Buffy'll be fine." Cordy said to Angel, her flirtatious tone making Ivy roll her eyes in annoyance.

"Buffy would be, whoever she is now could be in trouble."

Ivy had to covered her smirk, no matter how many times Cordelia had tried, Angel had shut her down in favor of this Buffy. It was better than watching a daytime soap opera.

They searched the streets, Angel following the lost girl's scent. He caught Buffy's trail, and the girls followed him to the warehouse district. They stopped in the mouth of an alley, spotting a pirate pinning their wayward princess against a wall. The brunette annoyed Ivy to no end, but for some reason, the pirate pinning her pissed her off even more. Ivy sauntered towards the pirate. He looked up from his squiriming prey to see the skimpily clad red-head walking towards him. He let go of Elizabeth and turned to Ivy, leering at the woman. Ivy got close, stroking down the pirates stubbled cheek, stopping at the bottom of his jaw. She leaned close.

"When the lady says no, she means no."

Green veins appeared out from under her hand on his face. The pirates eyes rolled up in his head and he passed out. Angel ran up, picking the princess off of the ground. Ivy gazed down at the pirate, looking at him intrigued.

"That was oddly cathartic." she murmured.

Angel gave her an odd look and Cordy just scrunched her nose up. Willow came around the corner running.

"Run!" she yelled.

A few seconds later a horde of vampires and kid-monsters came tearing around the corner, a blonde Billy-Idol imitator at the head of the group. Angel grabbed the princess by her arm and pulled her along.

"In here!"

They filed into the warehouse and Ivy slid the door shut. Vines burst from the ground, covering the surface of the door, but the vamps were faster. The bleach-blonde was the first through. He tried to go for Buffy, but found himself constricted by hundreds of vines. Ivy looked to Willow who grinned at her.

"Him you can kill."

Ivy turned back towards the blonde with a wicked smirk on her face. She got ready to order her babies to rip the vampire apart, when a bout of dizziness hit her. She suddenly blacked out, waking up seconds later with a familar blue-eyed blonde leaning over her.

"Harley?"

The blonde beamed at her.

"Geez Red, you scared the laugh right outta' me"

"Sorry"

Ivy swung her legs over the side of the bed, sitting up. She gave her blonde friend a smile when she threw herself in Ivy's lap and start babbling at her. She was back in her own body, obviously back in her own world. She couldn't help but wonder what happened with Willow and the others.

Spike landed on his feet when the red-haired bitch keeled over and her vines went limp. He planned to rip her head off as soon as he was done with the Slayer. He turned back to the brunette and got a bad feeling when the brown curls slipped to the floor, revealing honey blonde. Hazel eyes looked up at him and the Slayer's mouth twisted into a smirk.

"Honey, I'm home."

Buffy swung, a hard punch sending Spike to land on top of a crate. He glared at the Slayer, then decided to cut and run, fleeing from the warehouse. Buffy watched him, hands on her hips.

"Hey, are you all right?"

Buffy turned to Angel, smiling.

"Yeah I'm fine...Xander!"

Buffy had spotted her friend laying face down on the ground, the red wig slipping off of the shoulder length brown curls. She paused as she kneeled next to him. Xander's body was still slender and very feminine, giving Buffy a very bad feeling. She flipped him over and gasped. Xander was still fully female and her skin was still a slight tint of green. Buffy swallowed and reached to shake the girl awake.

Pale green eyes blinked open and glanced dazedly at her.

"Buff?"

"Hey Xan, do you remember what happened?"

The boy turned girl sat up, nodding a little. She froze and stared down at her body, then started hyperventilating. Buffy grabbed Xander by the shoulders and slapped her face.

"Xander! You have to calm down."

"Calm?! I'm a...I'm a..." Xander couldnt speak anymore, she just opened and closed her mouth like a fish while staring at her new body.

"Gile's will figure out how to change you back Xan, but you have to stay calm."

Xander just nodded, massaging her face for a moment trying to hold back tears. She got herself under control and let Buffy pull her to her feet.

"Come on, let's get these kids home and go see Giles."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

A*N*- Sorry for the long hiatus, I've had nothing but writers block for this thing, but I've been cured and am now back to continue WKGG. As usual, I own nothing, I'm just borrowing.

**Chapter 5**

Giles had come back to the library after thoroughly searching Ethan's shop. He went back to filing the cards he had been working on prior to Willow coming through the wall. He looked up when the door opened. Willow came in first, followed by Buffy who was basically dragging a young auburn haired girl with pale green eyes.

"Who's this?"

Buffy shoved the girl into the chair and turned, her hands firmly on her hips.

"Xander got changed into a girl by that spell, and didn't change back all the way when it was over."

Giles looked back at the other girl, who was looking at him hopefully. Giles grimaced. If Ethan had used the spell he though he had...Giles went into his office and pulled the only remaining chaos magic book he had left from his wilder days.

"Is the change just an illusion, or an actual flesh and blood difference?"

Buffy turned on her heel and poked Xander in the boob. Xander squawked indignantly, folding her arms protectively over her chest.

"Yep, not an illusion."

Giles grimaced and looked over the passage in the book. He sighed and put the book down, massaging the bridge of his nose.

"I'm afraid there's nothing that can be done. It's a very powerful spell, if it's not an illusion, then you've been changed fundamentally into a female, down to your very DNA, by a God. I'm very sorry Xander, but there's no magic to undo the work of a God."

Xander visibly paled and the dead plant sitting on the checkout counter began to revive and blossom. It then began to bust out of it's pot as Xander got more and more upset. Willow saw it and her eyes widened. Buffy hadn't noticed, she was focused on Xander.

"Calm down Xan, it's no big deal, you're just a girl now."

Xander glared up at her venomously.

"Calm down? I've just been detatched from my _dick _! Not to mention the fact that I'm homeless now and I NO LONGER EXIST!"

There was a loud crash as the pieces of clay pot hit the floor and shattered. Xander was standing with her fists clenched at her sides. A fine pink powder started drifting off of her hair. Willow saw and covered her nose and mouth.

"Xan, I know it's bad, but you've got to calm down, you're starting to pollenate."

Xander froze and looked around, seeing the drifts of pink powder. Buffy dropped to the floor unconcious suddenly and Giles covered his mouth and nose. He and Willow backed away. Angel bent down to Buffy and inhaled to say something ad dropped like a rock.

"Oh God, I'm sorry."

Xander ran her hands through her hair, stirring up more pollen, making Willow and Giles back up more. Xander grimaced and backed away to the far side of the room. Giles took his glasses off to polish them.

"What is that?" He asked, glancing to Willow.

"Knockout Pollen, I think Xander's kept more than just Ivy's body. I'm so sorry Xander."

Xander wanted to be mad at Willow, wanted to blame her for this mess, but seeing the guilty look on the redheads face broke the anger. It wasn't Willow's fault, if anybody it was that Ethan guy's.

"Not your fault Wills, you didn't know it'd happen."

Xander sat at one of the far tables and opened the window above her head. Giles put his glasses back on and went back to the book. Angel was first to wake up.

"What was that?" he asked groggily.

"Poison Ivy produces a pollen from her skin, one type can knock you out, one is a sort of mind controlling pheremone."

Willow was on the computer now, researching all of DC Comic's versions of Ivy.

Angel looked over at Xander, who was as far away as she could get until she could calm down.

"Sorry Deadboy" she murmured quietly.

Angel's eyebrows went up. Xander was curling in on herself, the pollen wafting out the window. The brunette looked absolutely pitiful and Angel could understand. In a couple of hours, she had lost her home and her identity because of a chaos mage's really bad prank. He stepped closer, but still out of range of the pink powder.

"It's fine Xander, you didn't know."

Willow printed out a list and went over to Xander, who looked ready to climb the wall to get away so she wouldnt get the redhead with her pollen.

"I compiled a list of all of the Ivy's powers, so you know what to keep an eye out for."

Xander gave her a wobbly smile.

"Thanks Wills"

"Tommorow I'll get to work making you exist again, should only take me a few hours."

Xander's smile got wider and Willow gave him a mischevious smile.

"Do you wanna stay over with me Xan? I can sneak you in."

Xander shook her head.

"I don't wanna get you in trouble Wills, you know how your mom is about strangers. I'll sleep in here on the couch and hide when Snyder does his morning walk."

Willow nodded. Buffy stirred, sat up, and rubbed her head.

"Ugh, what hit me?"

"Xander has kept more of Poison Ivy's abilities, the knockout pollen is what made both you and Angel lose conciousness."

Buffy gave Xander a sour look and Xander withdrew more.

"Hmph, I'm going to head home Giles."

She turned and smiled sweetly at Angel.

"Do you want to walk me home?"

Angel glanced at Xander discreetly, then shook his head.

"I'm going to make sure Spike's not causing any more trouble tonight, with this spell stuff, it's stirred up a lot of fledges."

Buffy looked dissapointed, but left anyway. Giles left a little while later and Angel dissapeared between the stacks. Xander cleaned up the mess from the plant and used Ivy's memories to help her reverse the growth. Instead of sleeping , Xander spent the night going over the list, crossing off abilities she didnt have and trying to get cotnrol over what she did. She didn't notice a certain vampire making circuits around the school complex, keeping the campus clear of vamps.


	6. Chapter 6

A*N*- Back from an extremely long hiatus. As per usual, I own absolutely nothing but the train of thought that kick started this puppy. Speaking of kick-starting, this chapter is dedicated to Darlene who gave me enough food for thought to get out of the rut I've been in. Thanks again Darlene.

Chapter 6

It took Xander about an hour after everyone had left to calm down enough to where she wasn't spreading the pink knockout pollen anymore. She was determined to come to terms with this new body , it was too dangerous for her to wallow in self-pity and not get control of Ivy's powers before someone got hurt. Her first assessment that while unhappy about this change, she wasn't uncomfortable about this form. She had all of Pamela Isley's memories, from childhood through the accident with Woodrue to her current on and off again relationship with Harley. She could do this, she could deal. There was a Brightside, no more dealing with her parents. Albeit, she had nowhere to live, but that was easily fixable and by the next day Willow will have given her a shiny new identity, so yay, it wasn't so bad.

Xander pushed herself out of the chair. She was still clad in Ivy's costume and she noticed that she wasn't just wearing the ivy leaves; they were growing out of her skin. Xander couldn't help the shudder that went down her spine. Because of Ivy, she knew that it didn't hurt, but it was still wiggy to see the vines pushing through her skin. She willed away the heeled boots and wiggled her toes on the cool tile floor. Her skin was a pale grey-green with vines running just under the surface, creating darker green whorls. Xander ran her fingers over the whorls on her chest, feeling the slight ridges under her fingers. She followed the ridges up her neck and felt them disappear into her hair. Further inspecting found more ivy sprouting out of her scalp, vines keeping her hair in a loose and messy bun. Her hair wasn't bright red like Ivy's was, her natural dark brown was dominate, lightened by streaks of auburn and copper. The green skin and ridges would need to go if she was going to live like a normal girl during the day. She stared at her arm and willed the Green away. The ridged vines sunk into her skin and her skin started turning a healthy peach color. Her hair fell out of its bun and the vines of ivy twined in her hair retracted and disappeared. Except for the bathing suit of ivy leaves, she looked like a normal girl.

As the night went on, Xander found that she could keep her "human" form effortlessly and that the wide range of other powers that Ivy had, came to her effortlessly. She wouldn't admit it to anyone, but she was starting to like not being the token normal one anymore. Because of Halloween, she was now as smart , if not smarter than Willow, and had super strength like Buffy. Xander knew if given the choice to turn back into a boy, now that she knew what she was capable of, she just might hesitate at throwing all of the power away.

Morning rolled around quickly and Xander hid when she heard Snyder coming down the hall to do his daily check. She hid in the stacks and waited till the little troll left through the swinging doors. She walked out and sat down in one of the computer chairs. She rolled it into the sunlight shining in through the windows and sighed happily, content enough to doze until the others arrived.

"Oh dear lord."

Xander woke, blinking and looked at Giles, her eyes half lidded.

"Hmm?"

Giles pulled off his glasses to clean them.

"Well, it seems that the green skin is wearing off at least, Xander."

Xander blinked and looked down. She had held the normal look while she was sleeping.

"Oh, no, just pushed back."

The grey-green tone bloomed across her skin and the vines followed, whirling under skin into ridged designs. Giles looked startled, slipping his glasses back onto his nose.

"That is quite astonishing Xander."

Xander grinned at him. Willow walked in carrying a plastic bag, she was still looking apologetic.

"Morning Xander, Giles. Xander I brought you some clothes, we look about the same size."

She held out the bag. Xander took it and hugged her best friend tightly.

"You're the best Wills, the Harley to my Ivy."

The redhead grinned and dropped her bag next to the computer. She logged into it. Xander turned to Giles.

"Mind if I borrow your office G-man?"

"Why yes of course, but stop calling me that infernal nick-name."

Xander grinned at the librarian before disappearing into his office and shutting the door. A few minutes later he came back out, dressed in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. Her skin was once again a healthy peach instead of green. She sat down next to Willow to watch the girl at work.

"Okay, what do you want your name to be?"

Xander looked contemplative.

"Alexandria…Isley…"

Willow giggled.

"What about a middle name?"

Xander rest her head on her fist.

"Dunno, Pamela or Lillian?"

Willow looked thoughtful.

"Lillian sounds better."

"Then do that voodoo you do Wills."

Willow snickered, making Xander crack up. Giles watched the two friends fondly as he sorted through a stack of books.

"Allright, you exist again and you're legally emancipated. I've got you on file as a transfer student from L.A., and I fabricated your birth records last night."

Xander hugged Willow tightly.

"You are a life saver Wills."

Willow hugged her back. When she let go, Xander stood.

"I'm going to go raid my locker before anyone gets here then head to the office. I'll be back G-man."

Xander went out the doors, grinning when she heard Giles yelling at her to stop calling him ' that infernal nickname'. She pulled her backpack and notebooks out of her locker and the pictures of her, Willow, and Jesse and also the picture of her, Willow and Buffy. Everything else she left. She headed to the office and got registered for classes. After an unfortunately long conference with the guidance counselor, she got enrolled in all the classes she wanted. She had picked a science heavy curriculum, with Ivy's memories, high school chemistry would be a breeze.

Her next stop was unfortunately Snyder's office.

"Sit" The troll said sternly.

Xander did so, trying to keep a sour look off her face. Snyder was looking at the file in front of him, her newly fabricated records no doubt.

"Transfer student, emancipated…huh, well Ms. Isley, just because you've escaped from under the thumb of parental authority does not mean I will allow any funny business in my school. One wrong step and I'll have you out of here, is that understood?"

Xander nodded, faking a sweet smile.

"Yes sir, of course."

"Then get out of my office and go to class."

Xander didn't have to be told twice. She almost slammed into Cordelia on her way back to the library.

"Watch where your…..well well well if it isn't the dweeb. Still a girl, I see."

Xander rolled her eyes.

" Lovely to see you too Cordelia."

The taller brunette tossed her hair.

"So what, your suddenly attending school as a girl now? Don't you think someone will notice?"

Xander crossed her arms.

"All they'll notice is the new girl coming in the same time as Alexander Harris gets counted amongst the missing from last night's chaos. I'm Alexandria Isley now."

"Whatever, once a dweeb always a dweeb."

With that said, Cordelia walked away down the hall. Xander shook her head and headed for the Library.

"Whelp, that's all done. Book me Giles, so I can once again join the throng in the bowels of hell known as Sunnydale High."

Buffy turned in her seat, frowning at Xander.

"Someone seems to be in a better mood. At least you're not green and knocking people out anymore."

Xander paused before plastering on a fake smile.

"Well, along with the shiny new powers, I can reduce the amount of chlorophyll in my skin cells to make me look peachy instead of green."

"The what?" Buffy said, confused.

"Chlorophyll, the stuff that makes plants and me for that matter, green. Basically, it's plant blood."

Willow looked at Xander like she was a shiny new puzzle.

"Do you think your blood is green too?"

Xander shrugged.

"I would assume so. Not really interested in cutting myself to see."

Buffy looked at Xander with narrowed eyes.

"So wait, you're not human anymore?"

Xander watched her warily.

"Uh, very much human. Just got some extra stuff in my DNA that makes me more similar to a plant. I'm not on the slay list, Buff."

Xander didn't like the suspicious look the blonde gave her. The warning bell rang.

"Oh well, time to get to class." She said quickly, heading off to her Chemistry class.

Her math and science classes were much easier to get now that she had Pamela's brains as well as her powers. The basic chemistry theory was child's play to the advanced botanical biochemistry that Isley was well known for. Xander stopped paying attention in favor of playing with Ivy's formula for one of her deadly lipsticks. It would be simple to replicate, but Xander wondered if she should risk doing it after school, or get her own chemistry equipment and do it in privacy. Willow wouldn't be happy that she was copying that particular weapon from Ivy. That also brought to mind another problem, having an identity was all well and good, but she also needed somewhere to live. Willow's was out of the question, her mom wasn't going to let some strange girl stay with them, Buffy's was out for the same reason, with the way the Slayer was acting, she wasn't sure she even cared. Giles was out, people would start nasty rumors, Xander didn't want to do that to him….so she really had no options.

After classes let out, instead of heading to the Library she went out to wander around while it was still daylight out. There were apartments to rent, and the seedy motel on the bad side of town, but Xander didn't think they'd take to kindly to her kind of redecorating. She needed somewhere ground level with enough space to grow plants with a temperature controlled room to live out of. She paused and changed directions, heading to the warehouse district. Sure enough, a few of the large buildings were up for rent, all she'd need to do was clear out any current inhabitants. Perfectly fine, Xander bet vampire ash would be excellent fertilizer for her babies. She slid the door open of one of the warehouses and stuck her head inside. She shut the door back, it didn't have any where were she could live out of, just a one big room. She kept checking, till she found one she liked. It had been a machine shop at some point, judging by the machinery and car parts laying around.

Xander stepped inside, looking around. The ceiling was mostly skylights, and once cleaned would be an excellent source of sunlight. In the back of the warehouse there were a set of stairs that led up to some office space. Xander pushed the door open and her mouth twisted up into a smirk. She had stumbled across a nest of vampires, all of them dead to the world seeing as it was still daytime. This presented her with an experiment to try, with the right type of vine she should be able to dust a vamp easily. She kicked off her shoes and shook her hair out of its pony tail releasing a fine cloud of pink pollen. One of the nearby vamps woke, instantly going into game face, but relaxed right before it tried to pounce.

Xander smirked, the pollen was doing it's trick. Six vampires were staring dazedly off into space. She searched pockets, grinning when she found large rolls of money. She had just found her bankroll, there were always vamps on the Hellmouth, which mean a possible source of steady income until she could find an alternative. She finished picking their pockets and used a wooden vine to stake them. She counted the money and found plenty to start renting the warehouse.

Xander shook the realtor's hand and handed him the check for the rent. She had gone to the bank and withdrew all of the money in her old account and had opened up a new one under her new name. After depositing her haul from the vampires, she had a nice chunk of money and had called about the warehouse immediately, now the building was hers. She stood in the center of room and looked around. The floor under her, rumbled a bit before vines of all sizes burst from a crack in the floor. They twined up the steel support beams and across the beams in the roof. Soon everything was covered in the Green, and the plants were murmuring their content at her. A vine brushed up against her face and she gave it a kiss and pet it. She walked towards a plant with large velvety leaves. She lay down on one of the leaves and it closed around her and she slowly dozed off.


	7. Chapter 7

A*N* - Once again, I own nothing. I also want to redirect you guys to reread Chapter 6, as I changed the ending a bit after a suggestion on how to make it better. Just so it doesn't seem like something's being repeated later on.

Chapter 7

After a few days in her new life as a woman Xander decided that she could no longer mooch off of Willow's closet. She appreciated the red-head helping her out, but Xander's _assets_ were bigger and frankly, borrowing Willow's underwear was freaking her out along with being incredibly painful. She waited in the hallway and went after Cordelia after she went by. The brunette finally noticed her presence and her eyes narrowed.

"What do you want?"

Xander smiled nervously.

"I need your help."

Cordelia's eyebrows went up.

"Oh really? What kind of help could I possibly give you that your little dweebettes couldn't?"

Xander fidgeted under the stern look.

"I need help with clothes….I've been borrowing from Willow…and the bra is cutting of circulation. Willow's not exactly…fashion smart."

The last part was muttered guiltily.

"Don't get your panties in a bunch; you don't have to explain anymore, you don't want to hurt Rosenberg's feelings. Why not Fluffy then?"

Cordelia watched Xander fidget and saw the hurt look.

"Buff's not exactly been talking to me much. She doesn't like the whole villain possession thing."

Cordelia rolled her eyes.

"So Blondie is jealous because she's not the only special one in your group. Big surprise. So what, you want me to take you shopping? I hope you don't expect me to pay for this."

Xander shook her head quickly.

"No, no, I've got money. I just need you to show me…..Pamela Isley wasn't really up on teen fashion, you know? I need you to show me how to be a girl, makeup, hair…and clothes."

"How much? There's no way I can do anything with less than a hundred."

Xander blushed.

"I've got a couple thousand right now; I'll be able to get more later. Will it be enough?"

Cordelia nodded and looked at her and frowned.

"You're not…selling yourself…are you?"

Xander shook her head violently and blushed bright red.

"No, oh no….I've been pickpocketing the vamps I dust. Not like they need it anymore right?"

Cordelia sighed in relief, she was worried that she'd have to actually be nice and yell at Giles for not making sure Xander was okay.

"Come on dweeb, before someone sees me talking to you."

Xander nodded and followed after her. They got into Cordy's car and the brunette dialed a number on her cellphone.

"First things first, we're going to have something done with your hair, frankly it's a mess."

Xander nodded.

"You're the boss today."

Cordelia smirked and made an emergency appointment with her hairdresser. When they got to the salon, she shoved Xander into a chair.

"What on Earth have you brought me Miss Chase?"

Her normal hairdresser, Dean, was looking at Xander's messy curls in horror.

"My…friend is having hard time with her hair; it's why I called it an emergency."

"I can see that, heat giving you a hard time with frizz, sweetie?"

Xander nodded.

"I'll see what I can do for you then. What exactly are you looking for?"

Xander sat up a little and pulled on a lock of hair.

"I like the color and the curls but there's just too much hair and it's a pain to try and get a brush through. So a little shorter and tamer I guess."

Dean nodded and stared at Xander contemplatively before grabbing her by the hand and dragging her over to the hair washing station and pushed her into the chair.

"I'll see if I can work a little magic, sweetheart."

Cordelia supervised with crossed arms as Dean wet down Xander's hair and generously applied hair product to the girl's hair. The entire time he was giving Xander advice on how to keep her hair from getting too frizzy. Xander wasn't too shy to ask questions. He wrapped her hair in a towel and took her back over to the styling chair and got to work.

Half an hour went by before Xander was considered done. Instead of the unruly mass of curls, her hair was wavy and barely went past her shoulders, styled carefully to frame her face. Dean grinned from ear to ear.

"Much better, if I do say so myself. Here, use these every time you take a shower, and comb this in when you dry it. It should keep those curls of yours under a modicum of control."

Xander nodded and thanked him then paid the nice lady at the register. Cordelia dragged her out of the salon and pushed her into the car. Cordelia drove them over to the mall, and continued to drag Xander to their first priority.

Xander dug her heels in when she saw where Cordelia was trying to take her. She stared at the Victoria's Secret sign like it was the most terrifying thing on Earth. Cordelia rolled her eyes.

"Xander you're being ridiculous. Do you want to keep wearing Willow's underwear?" she hissed at the shorter brunette.

Xander flinched and stopped pulling against Cordelia and cringed when they stepped over the threshold of the store. Cordelia took her to the back of the store and shoved her in an empty fitting room. Xander squawked when Cordelia pulled her shirt up.

"What are you doing?!"

"Checking the size you wuss, I'm going to go get some different sizes for you to try. Stay here, and take that off."

Cordelia pulled the door shut behind her and went off in search of bras that would fit the boy-turned-girl. Willow was tiny and barely a B-cup. Xander's new body had more muscle to it, including a definite C-cup. She picked a few different sizes that she thought would fit. She didn't worry about color; they could worry about that once they figured out size.

She walked back to the dressing room and knocked on the door of the cubicle she had left Xander in. She paused when Xander didn't answer, but she heard the sniffling.

"Xander?"

She pushed the door open. Xander was on the bench, shirt-less and bra-less, with her knees drawn to her chest and she had her face buried in her knees. She was green, and really, Cordelia was regretting agreeing to this. She sighed and hung the bras on the hook on the door and crouched in front of Xander.

"What's wrong?"

A green finger pointed at the mirror. Cordelia sighed again.

"You've been avoiding looking at yourself this entire time, haven't you?"

Xander nodded, looking up. Her pale green eyes were red-rimmed.

"Ivy's memories help me ignore it….but when I saw myself in the mirror….I just…couldn't not pay attention anymore. I'm a girl now…and there's no way to turn me back. It's scarier than anything I've ever done; it's scarier than when I had to …stake Jesse."

Cordelia grimaced; she knew something had happened to Jesse. It was harsh, because Xander and Jesse had been friends since before she could remember. Jesse and Xander had long pre-existed Willow, who the duo had met in kindergarten, and then the three had been inseparable. She couldn't imagine knowing someone that long and having to end them like that. So when Xander said it was scarier, and this being the boy who had saved her from the Frankenstein-freak, she knew it was a big problem.

"Have you talked to Willow, or Mr. Giles or someone about this? I know it's hard, but you are going to have to get used to this if there's no way to change you back."

Xander hiccupped and shook her head.

"Willow gets this look when I say anything about Halloween, she feels guilty about making me wear the costume. I don't want to see her hurting like that and Buff is…angry at me or something….so I've been avoiding the library all together."

Cordelia scowled. What kind of friend didn't help and comfort someone through a tough time? She bet Xander had done the same after Jesse had died, to spare Willow's feelings and then for Buffy to start dating Angel? No wonder Xander was all but outright hostile to him. Which made her wonder….did Willow or the others know about Xander's home life? Most of their class knew about how he used to come in, walking stiffly. She had dated a football player who had mentioned seeing the bruises in gym class once, shaped like fists and foot prints, and how Larry made them back off from the more physical threats whenever Xander was walking a little too stiffly. Cordelia hung her head, talk about someone being dealt an awful hand. She sighed and stood pulling Xander upright and making her face the mirror.

"I know this isn't the best situation, but this body…it's just a shell, it doesn't matter. You're a good person Xander Harris, you saved me from Franken-Daryl and you go out and slay vampires and demons, not because it's your destiny, like a bottle blonde we won't mention, but because you want to. That person won't change, because all of that's in here."

Cordelia poked where her heart was. Xander looked at her, her mouth slightly open.

"What?"

Xander smiled.

"You are incredibly profound and sweet Cordelia Chase."

Cordelia froze and gave Xander a haughty look.

"Whatever, can we get back to shopping? I would like to go home sometime tonight."

Xander's smiled turned into a teasing grin as the green disappeared from her skin.

"Whatever you say Queen C."

Cordelia smacked Xander on the shoulder and left the room. Xander tried on a few of the bras and finally found one that fit and didn't cut into her circulation. She informed Cordelia of the size and soon had an armful of bras.

"Why so many?" Xander whined.

Cordelia leveled her with a stern look.

"Certain bras for certain shirts, sports bras for gym classes, strapless for shirts that would need them. What more do you need to know?"

Xander sighed and didn't complain again. Luckily, fourteen pairs of underwear later, Cordelia finally deemed them finished. Xander almost ran to the cashier, happy to be finally out of the store. They continued on, spending a couple of hours in an out of various stores; shirts, blouses, tank-tops, jeans, skirts, shorts, and shoes of all kinds. Xander collapsed on a bench surrounded by bags, and she was panting dramatically.

"You're tired after this little bit of shopping? Wuss." Cordelia said smirking at her.

Xander couldn't help but notice that the look was a little fond, and she grinned. Cordelia glanced at the bags, assessing their purchases.

"I think you've got enough for now, but you have to continuously change things out. Girls aren't like guys; you can't wear the same things over and over again. Xander…are you listening to me?"

Xander was staring at the display window of a store. Cordelia glanced over; the store was announcing that all of its Halloween costumes were 80% off. Next to the sign was a mannequin displaying a dark green corset, decorated up the sides with gold ivy vines. Beside the mannequin was a pair of matching boots.

Xander was transfixed on the corset. It was perfect, and she wouldn't have to rely on the leaves that came out of her skin, which from Ivy's memories, when they caught on something or were pulled, it tended to be painful. This would be an excellent alternative. She got up and headed to shop.

"Just make sure it fits before you buy it! No, don't worry; I don't mind watching YOUR shopping." Cordelia said, crossing one leg over the other to wait. She waited till Xander had come back and they had gone to the car to ask about the corset.

"Ivy's leaf bathing suit thing, it's not a covering as more as leaves coming out of my skin. When they get caught on things, it's like getting a chunk of hair pulled out, not to mention it's creepy as hell. Freaks me out, so I was looking into an alternative."

Cordelia crinkled her nose.

"That's gross."

Xander shrugged, it wasn't anything she could help. She directed Cordelia to her warehouse. Cordelia looked at the building with something bordering on disgust.

"This is where you live?"

Xander flushed and shrugged at her.

"No other choice, I needed somewhere to set up a lab. Which looks like the delivery guys came today, so yay I can devote my evening to making it pretty inside."

There was a pile of boxes next to the door and a truck from the local nursery was unloading pallets of dirt and plants. Xander got out of the car, grinning and looking over the plants.

"Good God Xander, what are you doing with all of this?" Cordelia said as she shut the door of her car.

"Botanical biochemistry along with making the warehouse more livable. I had the old car junk cleaned out a few days ago, and ordered this stuff. I plan to spend all of tonight and tomorrow setting things up."

Xander looked really excited. Cordelia watched her brushing her fingers over the leaves of plants and watched other's lean towards her touch. One of the delivery guys had her sign some paperwork and Xander hovered over the pallets until the truck was out of sight.

"Do you wanna come in and see? It's not much now, but I've cleaned it up the best I could. It will look better once I get everything planted and growing."

Cordelia nodded, just to get Xander to stop babbling nervously. The shorter brunette grinned then unlocked and pushed open one of the big sliding doors. Despite it previously being a machine shop, it wasn't bad. Cordelia leaned against the railing and looked around. She and Xander were standing on a raised concrete walkway that had a ramp that went a few feet down to the main floor. There was an old steel table set up on the raised floor area underneath the overhang of the office, with a sink and counter space, obviously where Xander was planning to put her lab. It was a little muggy inside, much like an actual green house. The huge skylights overhead were clean of dirt and dust and let plenty of sunlight in making it warm.

Xander grabbed her bags from the car and stepped inside, heading towards the metal stairs that led to the office space. Cordelia followed and was relieved to find the office space air-conditioned. It was also in better condition and turned into a living space. Xander clicked on the lights and started putting away her shopping while Cordelia looked around. The walls facing towards the main floor all had windows so Xander had an unobstructed view of the warehouse at all times. There was a beat up desk and chair in the corner with Xander's books sitting on it. A beat up dresser and night stand that Xander had obviously salvaged, along with a queen-sized bed in the corner. Cordelia was satisfied to see clean sheets and a comforter, and while not the conditions she would want to stay in, she could see this working for Xander.

"It's not the Hilton, but you've made it pretty nice Xander. I want to see it when you get downstairs set up; I hear that Ivy chick is pretty well known for her gardens."

Xander grinned and nodded.

"Sure, definitely will be done tomorrow but I promised Willow I would stop by the Library tomorrow night. So Sunday or after school Monday if you like."

Cordelia nodded.

"Sounds good, now walk me back to my car. The sun's starting to set."

Xander mock bowed at her.

"Yes milady, of course milady."

Cordelia rolled her eyes, and smirked. Xander walked her back to her car and watched until she was out of sight before turning to the boxes and pallets, rubbing her hands with child-like glee. She put the boxes on the metal table and easily moved the pallets inside. She slid the large door shut, locking it on the inside with a large padlock and locking the secondary door next to it. She flipped on the overhead lights and lit up the floor.

She had gone a little plant happy at the local nursery. She had bought things that would be pretty, and she had bought some things that would be useful as well. It would be a good start, and she could always figure out either breed or buy some of the more…exotic species.

Xander went up to the office and stripped, her skin losing its peach color as she pulled her clothing off. Ivy leaves pushed through her skin, covering her groin and she shrugged on one of her boy-form's old Hawaiian shirts, buttoning one button. She walked back downstairs and started breaking open the bags of soil to dump and spread across the floor. The cracks in the floor would work fine for the sturdier tree's and such, but things with weaker roots wouldn't be able to get through the thick concrete, so she provided them with a nice thick layer of soil. She wiggled her toes happily in the dirt as she worked to spread it across the entire floor. She finished and looked around; she couldn't help the dopey smile on her face. The new biology of her body liked the soil and she personally liked the earthy smell that wafted through the air.

Xander stepped over to the plants and picked up a large flowering plant with grape-like purple flowers. Wisteria was one of Ivy's favorites, and Xander didn't blame her, it smelt really good. She had only gotten one of these seeing as it spread on its own so well. She split it apart, planting once piece at the base of each support beam, coaxing the little plants to cover the metal beams and hang from the cross beams overhead. The Wisteria's sweet scent filled the warehouse. Xander grinned and went back over to the assortment of plants. She had picked most for their toxicity or medicinal properties. There was an interesting array of toxic plants at the nursery. She had found a beautiful Mandragora plant, and a nice specimen of Foxglove. These she planted wantonly around the floor, giving them a little extra help to establish roots. Soon the warehouse was full of green with the sweet smell of different flowers. She made a mental note to ask Giles about some more arcane types of plants, growing them could be helpful, hopefully. She picked up the remaining plant, a Venus fly trap and smiled. She looked at the boxes sitting over on the table and sighed, she'd take care of it in the morning. She was tired after the long day. She set the fly trap on the counter and went upstairs. She showered and once dry she slipped into bed wrapping the comforter around her naked form and drifting off to sleep.


	8. Chapter 8

A*N* - I own nothing, just amusing myself between class assignments.

Chapter 8

Xander woke up suddenly. The plants out in the warehouse were telling her through the Green that someone had picked the lock on the side door and had entered her room.

"Xander."

She sat up, clutching the comforter to cover her chest and glared at the vampire standing outside of the doorway to her room.

"Seriously Deadboy? What the hell are you doing here?" she hissed at him, her cheeks turning dark green as she blushed.

"Giles was worried, asked me to find you. Cordelia came by the Library last night and yelled at Willow for not making sure you were okay with the whole girl thing. Willow admitted that she hadn't seen you all week except for classes. Buffy…well…"

Xander sighed.

"Made her feelings known that I should be slain? Not surprising."

Angel grimaced.

"Come in…Don't I smell human?" Xander cocked her head to the side. Angel sat down in the nearby desk chair.

"Kind of? You smell like grass and trees mostly….like nature."

Angel looked uncomfortable. Xander sighed.

"Not surprising, I'm an avatar of Mother Nature….could you turn around…please?"

Angel spun around in the chair looking at the jungle of plants.

"How did you manage all this in a week?"

He heard a thump and Xander cursing. He turned to look.

"Don't even think about it mister!" Xander said sharply.

Angel went rigid and faced the windows.

"Bras should be covered under the Geneva Convention as a form of torture. Gah I hate these things."

Angel coughed to hide his laugh.

"Shut up Deadboy" Xander muttered, buttoning her blouse.

"I patrolled and took things off vampires and out of their nests when I dusted them. I found money, jewelry, things like that. I pawned stuff, made a good chunk of money out of it, bought this place."

Xander glanced out the window looking at the light dappling the leaves.

"Were you looking all night? Didn't Cordelia tell you where I was?"

Angel glanced sideways, and sighed in relief. Xander was dressed in red blouse and jeans.

"She kind of…stormed off in a huff after ranting for fifteen minutes."

Xander snorted.

"That's our Cordy….well; it looks like you're stuck here till sunset. You're welcome to come downstairs, there's no direct sunlight in my lab."

Angel nodded and followed her down the stairs and sat on the stool in the farthest corner. Xander started unpacking beakers, tubes and all sorts of other supplies. She set up the equipment on the table and stored chemicals in cabinets.

"What is all of this?" Angel asked, watching her.

Xander was connecting tubes and plugging in scales, making notes on a pad of paper.

"Pamela Isley was a genius when it came to Botanical Biochemistry, until the accident she was one of the top minds in her field. I've got all of that, in here."

She tapped her temple before busying herself with working.

"Botanical Biochemistry?"

"The chemical processes of plants, the study of their DNA, making hybrid species, things like that. Or….splicing animal DNA into plants."

Xander's tone turned bitter when she remembered what Dr. Woodrue did to Pamela. Angel saw her scowling and being a little rough as she put a microscope down on the counter. There was a loud crack of plastic as the Venus fly trap broke out of its container. The heads were the size of a chicken's egg and they were opening and closing. They flinched away slightly when Xander tried to touch.

"Shhh, it's alright sweetie. Mommy's not mad at you." Xander cooed at it, caressing the snapping plants.

She looked at the remains of the tiny plastic pot they had been in.

"Poor baby, broke right through the pot. Come on."

Xander picked up the Venus fly trap and carried it over to a bigger pot. She put some dirt in it and set the plant down, watching its roots bury into the soil.

"There you go sweetie, once you get a little bigger, we'll find you a good spot."

She put the bigger pot on a clear space on the counter and Angel watched her cock her head to the side like a bird. She nodded and went over to a pipe by the wall and turned a knob. The overhead sprinkler system cut on, simulating rain on the plants below. She walked back over to the table and surveyed the lab.

"Not the best lab in the world, but it'll do for now."

Angel looked around.

"Looks pretty impressive to me."

Xander smiled slightly.

"I'm missing some major equipment that would be extremely useful…but it's workable for now."

Xander slid onto a stool and flipped to the notes she had made in chemistry.

"You've been pretty decent with me lately." Angel observed suddenly.

Xander looked up from her notes, blinking.

"You've been helping us a lot more lately, not just brooding off into the darkness showing up out of the blue with info. It also helps that I'm lacking the raging jealousy."

She looked down at her pad, working an equation to figure out a dose of toxin for one of Ivy's lipsticks.

"So you lost your attraction to Buffy when you turned into a girl?"

She paused and looked up at him, then sighed and used the pencil pin her hair into a knot. She put her chin on her hand.

"I stopped being attracted to Buffy when she used me as a stripper pole to make you jealous. I don't like being used and abused, so it died a violent death. Most of my dislike of you was because you were a vampire and was sired by that bitch Darla."

Angel's forehead crinkled.

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"There was a boy, before Buffy came, who I had known since we'd both been in diapers. He was my best friend, and your sire turned him. Giles told me that there wasn't anything left of Jesse in the vampire, so I staked him. Then you came along and got a free pass because you had your soul. That meant nothing to me, because I was still stinging from having to kill my best friend, so I took my anger out on you. After the whole thing with Buffy, and a couple of eye openers I let it go. Because you DO help us and you seem to be a pretty okay guy but don't take me for a fool. One wrong move and you are plant food buddy."

Angel chuckled shaking his head and Xander got up pulling some things out of cabinets, measuring liquids.

"And for the record, my shape, male or female has no impact on my sexuality whatsoever. I thought you were cute long before Halloween."

Xander grinned predatorily when Angel stiffened nervously.

"Chillax Deadboy, I said you were cute, not that I wanted to jump your bones. I was making a point; I was bi long before Buffy."

Angel looked mildly surprised.

"The boy…Jesse…"

Xander nodded.

"I think if he hadn't been so hung up on Cordy….but that's then"

Xander quieted and walked over to the garden. She looked around at the different plants before picking one. Three leaves came away in her hand and she picked a few berries. She walked back over to the table and dumped them into the mortar and pestle, then started crushing them.

"What are you doing?"

Xander glanced up at Angel as she added a liquid to the paste and used a pipette to suck the liquid up and put it in a beaker that was over a burner.

"Lipstick"

"What?"

Xander smirked and picked up the pestle and held it out to him.

"Stick your finger in that and put it in your mouth."

Angel gave her a look.

"It won't kill you, trust me."

Angel put his finger in the liquid, looked at Xander before sticking it in his mouth. Seconds later he went rigid and fell off the stool. Xander snickered.

"Don't fight it, its mild paralysis dosed for humans. Vamp physiology, you'll be up in 20 minutes to half an hour. Sorry Deadboy, I couldn't help it, you are seriously fun to mess with."

She went back over to the valve on the wall and shut it off. She slid back onto the stool and dumped chemicals on top of the oil.

"Ivy has multiple formulas that utilize toxins from various plants, enhance with the right chemicals so they can be absorbed orally through the lips, add wax and pigment, and you have poisonous lipstick."

She stirred the mixture and it turned bloody red. She poured the mixture into molds. Angel sat up and glared at Xander. She grinned, resting her head on her fist, tapping the mold to get rid of air bubbles.

"So, medical question, I know you don't breathe, but any trouble with that?"

"No, I could still breathe, I just couldn't move my lips to call you a manipulative bitch."

Xander grinned, chuckling, and fluttered her eyelashes at him.

"Sorry, I wanted to see if it was effective on vampires as well as humans. It's easier than trying to get them to breathe in pollen. It's amusing; they're already starting to recognize me. They all know Poison Ivy's on the Hellmouth."

"Buffy said something about this Ivy being a villain?"

Xander grimaced at him and sighed.

"She was a feared eco-terrorist. She was driven insane by the accident and her morals went a little skewed. But that's Pamela Isley; I'm still Alexander Harris, even though I'm a rather pretty shade of green most of the time."

Angel looked curious.

"How did that happen?...To Isley I mean."

Xander swung her legs back and forth on the stool.

"Pamela was kind of like Willow you know? Brilliant, but very timid socially. When she was in college, on the verge of getting her doctorate, one of her Professors seduced her. Using her for her brilliant mind, and her body, to perfect a bio toxin. A mixture of poisonous plant material and venoms from various animals. It was a ground breaking bio-weapon, both of them would have been rich….but the Professor….Woodrue got greedy. He wanted the discovery to be his alone….so he decided to…experiment with the toxin….on Pamela. It turned her into this."

Xander indicated to herself. Angel grimaced at her. Xander just shrugged at him and turned back to the lipstick mold, scraping away the excess before opening the mold. She pried the dark red lipstick out of the mold and set it into a shiny black plastic dispenser. She did the same with the other four and set the mold in the sink so she could clean it later. She capped them and labeled them as a paralytic.

She looked up at the skylights.

"Suns starting to set, I'm going to go take a shower and change."

She grabbed one of the tubes of lipstick before going up the stairs. She took a quick shower and pinned her damp hair up in a messy bun. She walked out to her room and pulled the closet open and pulled the green corset out.

"This is going to be interesting." She said to herself, pulling the green bikini bottoms that she had gotten to go with the corset. She pulled them on and slipped into the corset, struggling to get it laced and pulled. She finally gave up and two thin vines sprouted from her wrists. She turned in the mirror so she could see, and used the vines to lace up the back of the corset. The vines disappeared and she grabbed the ends and pulled hard on them. She wheezed when she pulled it too tight and couldn't breathe.

"Shit, shit, shit." She gasped, pulling on the corset to loosen it. When it was tight but comfortable, she tied off the laces.

She pulled on the boots next then looked at herself in the mirror.

"Very….very weird….still…hehe…sexy as hell."

Xander grinned slightly at herself. She could behave like a girl because of Ivy, but she still missed her old body. It was weird, and it sucked, but she would get used to it…eventually. She picked up the lipstick and applied it, turning her pale green lips a dark crimson. She smirked at herself in the mirror; she needed pink eye shadow like Ivy had. She snorted, perhaps later….way later…the lipstick and clothes were weird enough for her, for now.

Angel looked up when he heard footsteps on the stairs. His eyes widened and his eyebrows went up when he saw Xander's outfit. The auburn haired girl pointed a finger at him.

"Not a word Deadboy or I'll knock your ass out and leave you here."

Angel wisely kept his mouth shut, but Xander glared venomously at him when she heard the snort.

"Keep it up chuckles, I'll create a strain of poison ivy that works on vamps and make sure it ends up in your underwear drawer."

Xander led the way through the growing shrubs, and noted that she needed to get some species of trees as well.

"I don't wear any."

Xander made a face and glanced at Angel.

"Oh gross, I really could've gone the rest of my life without knowing that."

Angel shrugged, smirking behind her back.

"So….exactly why are you wearing that."

Xander opened the door and turned to lock it behind Angel.

"Because I'm giving the people what they want. They think I'm the real Poison Ivy; I'm going to make sure they keep that notion. It'll make the vamps and demons wary of coming around the warehouse."

Angel nodded; it made sense to work the reputation with the demon world.

"What happened to the leafy…thing?"

"A vamp learned me good, gave a handful of leaves on my side a good yank, it hurt like a bitch. So I went for something that didn't hurt me physically if it got torn."

Angel looked confused.

"What?"

Xander rolled her eyes.

"The leafy unitard? Those leaves weren't just covering my skin; they were growing out of my skin, from these." She pointed to the raised whorls on her skin. "Naturally, when pulled, that shit hurts."

Angel nodded and they walked in companionable silence. They got closer to the library and he noticed Xander go from content, to grim looking. She sighed before pushing the door open.

"Xander!"

"Wait Will don't."

The redhead tried to hug Xander and the darker haired girl was trying to push her off.

"Agh!"

The side of Willow's face broke out in a rash of red bumps, along with her left hand that had touched Xander's shoulder. Buffy pulled Willow away, glaring at Xander.

"What did you do?"

"It's not Xander's fault, h-she tried to warn me, I forgot Ivy's skin was toxic too."

Xander got down the first aid kit and put a pair of gloves on and got the anti-histamine lotion.

"You didn't get too much Wills; it'll be gone in a half hour or so. I didn't think about it till it was too late, I'll have to come up with an inoculation, I can't not have Willow hugs, and too much exposure will eventually cause anaphylactic shock."

She spread the anti-histamine lotion on the rashes and Willow smiled at her before looking at her sternly.

"You should've told me you were hurting mister….I mean missy. I could've made you some apology brownies till you felt better."

Xander blinked away some moisture. That lotion sure was strong.

"Cuz it's not your fault Wills you shouldn't have to apologize for anything. If anything, costume guy owes me apology brownies."

Willow put her hands on her hips.

"Well, from now on, you tell me when you're upset. I mean it, see the resolve face, missy?"

Xander grinned, pulling off the gloves and throwing them away. She noticed Buffy still glaring at her; frankly she'd had enough of her attitude already.

"What is your problem? I didn't mean to hurt Willow; you know damn well I'd die before hurting her. I can't be setting off your Slayer sense, Angel confirmed it, and I'm human still. So what is it?"

Buffy's eyes narrowed.

"Besides you knocking me and Angel out and giving Willow that nasty rash? You were possessed by a bad guy, now you've got her powers and all the sudden you're dressing like her too. And what's with being best buds with Cordy all of the sudden?"

Xander's mouth twisted up in a mocking smirk. Buffy was bringing out the Ivy in her.

"What's the matter Buffy, jealous? I went to Cordy for help because you wouldn't give me the time of day. This is my body now, so I thought I might as well jump in the deep end to help me get used to it. Also, I'm not Ivy, I've got nothing but her powers and her memories, the rest is all Xander. I'm sorry I knocked you out, I've apologized already, I didn't mean to, I was panicking and didn't know. I'll be more careful now that I know, I can make an inoculation that will render my skin harmless to you guys, but I can't do anything about the pollen. The inoculation will lessen the effect, but it will still work on you. Now, stop acting like an uber-bitch to me, this isn't my fault."

Buffy's scowl just got worse and she turned her nose up at Xander and sat down in a chair. Xander just rolled her eyes before noticing Giles standing there, cleaning his glasses.

"Xander, can I see you in my office please?"

Xander sighed and followed him, glaring at Buffy when she smirked. Giles shut the door behind her.

"Giles, I'm sorry I got snotty with her, but I'm tired of being accused of being evil. I didn't ask for this."

Giles sat down in his chair.

"I completely understand Xander. That's not what I brought you in here to talk about. Frankly, I agree with everything you said to Buffy, aside from the foul language. This transformation is neither yours nor Willow's faults. I'm actually very impressed with how you're handling this. What I wanted to talk to you about was why you felt that you couldn't come to me when you found yourself without a place to live."

Xander blushed dark green.

"That was me having a dumb moment. I was going to ask, but by the time I actually thought about it, I was already registered as Alexandria Isley. I figured it would look strange for you to have a sixteen year old living with you who wasn't related, and it'd be our luck that Sunnydale Social Services would actually look into something. Get me?"

Giles pulled his glasses off to clean them again.

"Yes, I see how our luck would run like that. But you do have some place to stay, correct?"

Xander nodded quickly.

"Yes, I..Err…took money off of the vampires I've been staking and was able to put a down payment on a warehouse. It's got an office space that I live out of, and the rest, I've turned into a giant greenhouse."

Giles nodded, smiling slightly.

"W-well, Xander, you know if you need anything…."

Xander grinned and gave Giles a mock salute.

"You got it G-man."

The man rolled his eyes, but didn't admonish Xander for the nickname.

"Oh, I meant to ask. Is there an encyclopedia of herbs or something that could be used against slaying demons? I've really gotten in to the botany thing; I'd love to see about using Ivy's powers for some good."

Giles looks thoughtful for a moment.

"I may have something along that lines which I can lend to you. Let me go take a look, why don't you go join the others. Buffy should be heading out for patrol soon."

Xander nodded and went back out into the Library. It was just Willow, flipping through a book on the desk. The rash on her face and hands were looking much better, and were almost gone. Xander sat in a chair nearby while Giles disappeared into the stacks.

"So what have I missed?"

"Well….an old friend of Buffy's came to town. Tried to give her to Spike so he could live forever, it…didn't end well."

Xander winced sympathetically.

"That sucks."

"Yeah."

They sat there awkwardly for a moment.

"So..I see you've embraced your inner Ivy. What's with the corset thing and the lipstick, you are embracing you're girl side pretty quickly mister, it's strange."

Xander grinned.

"Well, what they don't show us in the comic books is where those leaves come from on Ivy's outfit. Turns out, it's like pulling pair. I was patrolling the other night and a vamp grabbed a handful of leaves and pulled. Gah, it hurt….so I chose this as an alternative cuz I've kinda built up a reputation as Poison Ivy in the demon community."

"Neat, well not about the hurting part, but I never knew that about Ivy's costume and you've been doing your own Slaying thing…that's…..you're being careful right?"

"Yep, taking all the precautions, vamps are just no match for my vines of fury….and they are apparently very good fertilizer."

Willow nodded.

"Good."

Giles came from between the stacks.

"Here you are Xander. Erasmus' Compendium of Demon Banes. I have a few more around somewhere, as soon as I find them, you can borrow them as well as you need to, but this will get you off to an excellent start."

Xander took the heavy leather-bound tome and grinned at Giles.

"Thanks Giles, I can't wait to get to try this out on those pesky demons. I'll take good care of it."

Giles nodded.

"I'm sure you will, now if you'll excuse me I have a um….prior engagement."

Xander and Willow shared a grin.

"Prior engagement, well I say Willow, do you think that could be code for 'Date with Ms. Calendar'?"

"I bet it just might."

Giles sputtered at the two.

"Very funny you two get going so I can lock up. Children these days." Giles walked off muttering, making Xander and Willow snicker.

Xander looked at Willow.

"Shall I walk you home, milady."

"Why thank you, I shall be delighted."

They left, and Xander caught up with Willow on their way to her house. Once the red-head was safely inside, Xander left, doing a short patrol of her own. She captured four vampires and a SeParvo that was tearing up one of the cemeteries. She knew the vampire dust was good for her babies, but she would have to experiment before she used the demon as fertilizer. The wriggling cocoons of vines sunk into the ground and Xander headed back to her warehouse to begin testing.


End file.
